Rail System Ends 1st Year on Upswing : Transit: Growing Metrolink commuter service continues to impress some as a boon, others as a boondoggle.

Downs also noted that as freeway speeds improve, commuters naturally will quit public transit again and return to their own cars, which offers more flexibility and privacy than even the most luxurious trains.

"If you take 16,000 people off the expressway, it's just going to cause 16,000 more people to get on," said Downs, author of "Stuck in Traffic: Coping With Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion."

Indeed, Steve Leung, chief of Caltrans' traffic management branch, said Metrolink has had no noticeable effect on the Southern California freeway system. "Nonetheless, we definitely encourage people to use Metrolink," he said. "We are all for it."

But again, Edelman said, the rail system is a start. "It certainly has provided a way for people in the outlying areas to find another way to get to Union Station" downtown, he said.

Over the last year, nine people--including a teen-age couple--have died in Metrolink-related accidents, prompting some to question the system's safety. Yet all but one of the fatal accidents involved pedestrians illegally walking on or near the rails. Four were apparent suicides.

Only one person has been killed at a private grade crossing, when he drove his truck onto the tracks on Nov. 25, 1992. Another accident at a public crossing caused only minor injuries. No one has been killed since May.

"Ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent of those accidents occurred because of a violation of the law," said Jim McInerney, transportation supervisor for the state Public Utilities Commission, which oversees Metrolink. "You have to violate the law in order to get hit by a train. It's that simple."

McInerney applauded Metrolink officials for making every effort to improve awareness of the danger of walking on or near the rails. He said the system's accident rate is about average.

He suggested that accidents early on may have happened because people were not accustomed to trains using the tracks regularly. Before Metrolink service, the tracks were used by less-frequent and slower-moving freight trains.

Also, fences were built along a particularly deadly stretch of rail in the northeast San Fernando Valley at the request of Edelman, after a series of accidents involving Metrolink trains.

Regardless of the criticisms, most passengers said Tuesday that they never would willingly revert to their auto commuting ways. Bob Becker of Thousand Oaks said he has picked up about two hours a day he used to waste commuting--time he spends catching up on work or reading.

While he admitted that there are problems, he said most are being worked out.

"It's not the Swiss, but it's reasonable," he said.

Metrolink: More Trains, More Riders

This week the train system celebrates its first anniversary. Here's a look at how service and ridership have increased.